A couple of guys, Kevin and Gerardo, fleeing the economic collapse of Venezuela, came to Argentina last year with suitcases in hand, a few bucks, and the dream of opening a virtual reality company. Non-virtual reality, i.e., the real thing, turned out to make that little more than a dream, and somehow, mutated to opening up a small hamburger joint, fused with their love of old 8-bit video games (Pacman, Mario Brothers, etc.). The latter form the decor of the place - also, though I didn't look, I gather that in the back, they actually have player consoles for those who want to play the games, or maybe it's just for themselves.
The burgers are pretty straightforward - various combos of cheeseburgers (named after classic video games) - with a choice of cheddar, blue, or "palmita" cheese, the last is basically fresh farmer's cheese in small slabs, crispy bacon, grilled or crisp onions, lettuce, tomato, and a trio of sauces, nothing all that "out there". Brioche buns. Triple cooked fries. And a penchant for height. The burgers aren't any bigger than anywhere else, coming in at 200 grams, or just over 6 ounces, but they don't do them in single patties on a classic sized bun (traditionally 4 to 4 1/2", 10-12 cm), but are more around 3″, or 8 cm, and they split the meat into two patties of 100 gm each and stack them. It makes them particularly Instagram-able, especially if you order a double or triple, where you end up with either 4 or 6 patties. And that's a the geek, tech touch that they're going for. Everyone Instagrams these.
So I ordered the Jefe Final, coming with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, grilled palmita cheese, and cilantro mayo (190 pesos). I added bacon to the order (extra 15 pesos). I didn't realize until most of the way through that they hadn't put any bacon, nor onions on it. That's usually not something I'd miss catching. The patties are well seasoned, though for me over-cooked, definitely into the medium well territory - with patties this size, the 10-15 minutes on the grill is overkill. I can't say if the bacon is nice and crispy, as they claim, as I didn't have any. They were criticized early on for blending ground bacon into the beef to give it some fat, but not telling people, which upset some folk who don't eat pork, and they now say they don't do that anymore. The bun is tasty, but it falls apart a little too quickly. The fries are excellent.
Oh, the one burger, or at least presentation, that's a little out there, at least for BA? The Donkey Donut, which, not surprisingly, comes sandwiched on two glazed doughnuts. No, I'm not going back and trying that one for you.
So, is it the best burger in town, or even in Palermo? No. It might make it into my top 5 for Palermo proper, but not even in my top 10 for all of BA. Still, I'd go back. And in this age of style over substance, perhaps it's more important for many folk that it's all very photogenic. read more